August 24, 2011
By: Chuck Colbert/TRT Reporter
Obama administration praised by MA organization leaders for highlighting the issues regarding LGBT health disparities
By: Chuck Colbert /TRT Reporter
Four decades after the Stonewall Rebellion ignited gay rights and liberation, how is the LGBT movement doing?
It’s “making considerable progress” but “still is a long way from its goal” of ensuing full equality for LGBT Americans.
That’s the bottom-line conclusion from a new study, The 2011 Momentum Report, by an independent think tank that provides in-depth analysis and research to help speed up LGBT equality.
The 28-page report, released in early August by the five-year-old Denver-based Movement Advancement Project (MAP), is available on line (www.lgbtmap.org/momentum-report).
The MAP report tracks LGBT movement progress using four key indicators. They are changes in cultural, social and political climate; progress on key issues for LGBT Americans; improvements in the lived experiences of LGBT Americans; and the strength and capacity of LGBT movement organizations.
Recent advances include repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” a shift in public opinion toward majority support for same-sex marriage, important federal court rulings against the Defense of Marriage Act, and marriage equality in New York state.
But significant inequalities also exist. For example, committed same-sex couples in 30 states have no legal protections. Thirty-two states lack safe school laws that prohibit bullying and harassment based on sexual orientation, with 35 states lacking similar laws based on gender identity. No federal law provides workplace protections for LGBT employees. And 29 states lack non-discrimination laws prohibiting discrimination in employment and housing based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Those states include some populous ones – Pennsylvania, Texas, Florida, Ohio, Georgia, and Arizona.
Overall, movement towards greater LGBT equality is most pronounced in the Northeast, upper Midwest, and West coast, with the rest of the country lagging behind. In large measure, equality depends on where you live.
In another important finding from The 2011 Momentum Report: “The 10 largest anti-LGBT organizations have a combined revenue of $337 million, almost four times the total revenue of the 10 largest LGBT advocacy organizations ($94.3 million).” And “fewer than 3.4 percent of LGBT adults have donated” to advocacy organizations in the movement. In sum, the LGBT movement is disadvantaged by under funding.
The report also included a short section on Health and HIV/AIDS, noting that no states have legislation addressing health disparities that LGBT people face.
Additionally, after the first 30 years of AIDS, HIV infection “is still a significant and growing problem” among men who have sex with men. In 2009, 75 percent of new HIV infections were among men – up from 59 percent in 2000.
HIV/AIDS also disproportionately affects communities of color – Latino/as and African Americans, making LGBT Americans of color among the most high-risk populations.
And yet some states, including Massachusetts, have seen a reduction in the numbers of new infections over a number of years.
Of course, “HIV is a critical issue for our community,” said Stephen L. Boswell, MD, president and chief executive officer of Fenway Heath.
“We’ve been trying to get people to think more broadly about the health of the LGBT community,” Boswell said. “And here is something published in support of the community that doesn’t do a good enough job of addressing health needs.”
First and foremost, he went on to say, “We need to quit excluding LGBT folks from the collection of data that allows us to understand where these disparities lie.”
One bright spot, Boswell noted is the Obama administration, which has done “a tremendously great job of highlighting this issue and make substantial change.”
What are some of the disparities? Boswell mentioned several. Teen suicide is much more common among kids who are questioning their sexual orientation or gender identity. Obesity is a problem for some women in the lesbian community. Also, “We know various things about substance abuse that are peculiar to the LGBT community,” he said. For example, “Crystal Meth is much more endemic in our community than in other communities or the larger community,” along with alcohol abuse. “We drink to a greater degree than our heterosexual counterparts,” said Boswell.
Altogether, Massachusetts and the entire six-state New England region have made great strides in equality. Connecticut and Vermont lead the way on nine indicators of equality, including marriage and relationship recognition, non-discrimination laws in employment and housing, joint and second-parent adoption, step parent and parental presumption, safe school laws, hate crimes laws and birth certificate laws.
But, the Commonwealth lags behind its two Yankee neighbors insofar as it lacks a transgender civil-rights law with hate-crimes protections. “It’s a growing embarrassment that Massachusetts does not have clear legal protections,” said attorney Jennifer Levi, transgender rights project director at Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders.
Altogether, “What struck me is how New England’s always at the cutting edge of the change,” said Kara Suffredini, executive director of MassEquality, a statewide LGBT advocacy organization.
Elsewhere, “We had some big wins, too,” she added, referring to Florida where a court ruling reversed the state’s three-decade gay adoption ban, dating back to Anita Bryant’s 1977 Save Our Children Campaign.
The reversal, Suffredini explained, is “really symbolic in the same way as marriage in New York.”
Much work remains to be done,” concludes The Momentum Report, “but strong and growing public and political support, along with a growing list of legislative success shows that momentum is on the side of progress.”
Suffredini added, “The MAP report shows our movement is becoming more mature and sophisticated.”
